Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kyo Kara Maoh, this is purely fan-made.

Note (4/18/2019): Well, here we have it, a brand new chapter written entirely from scratch and I gotta tell ya...this took some effort to write with how I've been feeling lately. I'm ok but still, it's been hard to focus on writing anything new for whatever reason. Also, I decided to change the rating of this story to M just in case due to the um, risque content. Hope you don't mind!

Chapter 11: Who's In Control Now?

(Chapter inspired by State of Seduction by Digital Daggers)

Sara was nothing if not a patient young man, in most cases anyway, but as the sun began sinking lower in the sky as the day wore on he found himself feeling more then a little restless. Berias should have been here by now. And it was only then that Sara realized that the spell he put on Yuri to leave their small haven to make his way to one of the rendezvous points after dark would make him oblivious to everything else except for that single-minded compulsion to obey Sara and go to the place he was instructed to go. And if anything attacked him along the way, Yuri would instantly unleash his power to defend himself, no matter how small the threat, which would immediately give away his location...

Realizing this, Sara decided to play the weak and helpless card by sitting quietly until the bandit leader showed herself to bide his time for as long as possible. And if he could unleash his power on her without the others catching on, she would be able to give out orders to the rest of the bandits which would work in his favor. All he needed was for her to bring him somewhere out of sight and free him so Sara could make his way back to Yuri before the sun set. He couldn't afford to rely entirely on Berias in a situation like this where his precautions wound up only putting Yuri in more danger instead of less.

Either way, being a captive himself now only made Sara wonder if Yuri appreciated how much more civil he was about it compared to this lot. Apart from guarding him they only snickered and talked about how pathetic he was for a king and it made Sara want to make each and every one of them dance on hot embers. Still, it could be worse.

"Well well well," a female voice cooed behind him, lifting some of his hair with her sword and watching the golden locks glide across the tip of the blade. "If it isn't King Saralegui himself. Last I heard you were off to fight some war with King Ranjeel like a good little lap dog." Sara knew better than to reply and sat perfectly still, flinching only when the blade cut into his neck at the last minute when she pulled it away.

"Finally, the boss is here," the bandit from before who'd been carving random chunks of wood and stood up and shot Sara a cold sneer. "You're in for it now so if you're smart you'll give her what she wants and fast."

Gliding over to the man who spoke, Sara saw his first glimpse of a woman who screamed 'viper' due to the whip at her side and the gleaming rapier in her left hand. Her hair was as red as wine and cut short in the back with long bangs framing her face which was sporting several scars along the jawline. She was wearing form-fitting leather from head to toe as well, all of which was scratched and scuffed as expected of a bandit leader, woman or not.

And when she reached the man, a cruel smile lit up her face as she shoved him back and raised his chin with her unfurled whip and snarled, "Did I say you could interrupt me? Did you not see that I was in the middle of greeting our esteemed guest?"

Swallowing hard, the man shook his head and stuttered, "S-sorry boss, won't happen again."

"There's a good boy," she smiled again, patting his cheek with her whip before turning around to address Sara once more. "Now then, what brings you to our little neck of the woods hmm? It's alright, you can tell me, sweetheart. I won't bite unless you want me to. Some boys are into that so I've heard."

Recognizing her now due to the weapon's she was carrying and her appearance from a wanted poster he once saw in Big Shimaron's territory, Sara replied politely, "You wouldn't happen to be Madam Rosella now would you? I've heard stories about you but I must say I never expected to see you all the way out here. I though you preferred plundering whole villages in weaker countries."

"So you've heard of me, I'm flattered. But please, do call me Rose. I haven't gone by 'Madam Rosella' since that pig Belar made a laughing stock of my family and chased us into these god forsaken lands," she frowned, bristling at the memory. "Oh, I'm so sorry, these are your lands aren't they King Saralegui? How rude of me."

Sara narrowed his gaze but again, said nothing. He didn't want to appear too competent to lure them into a false sense of security that they had him exactly where they wanted him. They needed to think they were winning so that when he crushed them, the last thing on their puny little minds would be how much gold Ranjeel might be willing to pay them for his capture. Especially once they ratted him out for being in cohoots with the Great Demon Kingdom. And if Sara didn't have the upper hand already thanks to his powers, that would have been a legitimate concern. But as it stood now, thinking they had something over him besides their numbers and man power would also work in Sara's favor convincing them they were in full control of the situation.

Turning to her men, she shouted for them to listen up and went off about how they were going to be rich but to keep their guard up since Sara's men were still somewhere out in the woods and also a double-black that may or may not be the Demon King himself. But she told them that the first person to catch him would get a full sack of gold and that they were not to bother her until she finished 'convincing' the king of Small Shimaron to tell them what they wanted to know and that if anything happened she'd be in her tent they set up a little further up ahead. After that, Rose had one of her men cut Sara loose and put him in chains around the neck and wrists before she started pulling him along like some sort of actual dog.

Oh, she was going to regret making that decision to have some fun with Sara while digging for answers about Yuri. Even so, Sara could endure a little torture just to make sure the bandit leader dropped her guard completely before playing his trump card. He couldn't have planned this better himself that the moment Rose arrived she wanted to take him somewhere secluded for some one on one time.

Too bad only one of them would be coming out of this tent with their mind intact.

"I can't believe he tricked us again! That dirty rotten snake in the grass!" Wolfram snarled, slamming his drink mug on the table as they mulled over the disaster last night's rescue attempt turned out to be.

"Calm down Wolfram. We knew this might happen so just be thankful we managed to get out of there alive," Murata sighed. "I've gotta admit, that was pretty clever on his part to divide our forces like that before sending in the troops to corner us. The men he sent into town were just a decoy, the rest were hiding in the catacombs we thought he sealed off so even Yosak underestimated their numbers. Still, there's something else that worries me-"

Catching onto what he meant, Conrad nodded and agreed, "I have to agree with His Eminence. Didn't anyone else find it odd that King Saralegui didn't come to gloat once he sprung that elaborate trap on us the moment he thought he won? Either way, surely he must have assumed I would most likely join whoever mounted Yuri's rescue in the castle itself which is why the majority of his men were concentrated on the castle grounds. It occurs to me that Saralegui might still have some use for me after all as Big Shimaron's last remaining heir to the throne so even if he can't take over the country directly, he'd want to control whoever becomes the next king and Yuri would make the perfect leverage in that case. At least until we found another way to free him."

"Lord Weller has a point," Adelbert nodded. "Everyone in Big Shimaron is clamoring for Lord Weller to become their next king and it comes as no surprise that King Saralegui would want to kill two birds with one stone by making sure he had the kid and Conrad under his thumb. He's a sly devil that one."

"Then what are we supposed to do now?!" Wolfram asked helplessly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, "If Yuri's not in the castle or in town then were did Saralegui take him? Even if they have a head start on us they can't have gone too far right?"

Murata nodded and pulled out the map again, "Right. Which means we'll just have to take a stab in the dark and start searching the surrounding area until we find anything solid. Ideally, if we could capture someone who knows Saralegui's current location that would help out a lot. But as it stands right now we're vastly outnumbered and he knows it. If we bring anyone from home into this and someone finds out they'll think we're here as spies. Now then, these are the most likely locations where he might hiding that he has some sort of safe-house or second castle in-" he explained, pointing to several areas on the map, "-and from what little information we were able to gather last night from Yosak, there are only three roads that lead north of Small Shimaron because I doubt even he would risk bringing Shibuya anywhere near Caloria since we have allies there who could help widen the search area and bolster our numbers. In any case, this road leads to Francia while these last two lead to Big Shimaron although one of them cuts straight through this forest here which is very dangerous due to how many wild animals there are not to mention bandits. So if I were to hazard a guess as to what Saralegui might do to throw us off the scene since Francia is also allied with the Great Demon Kingdom would be to take one of these two roads and risk hiding in plain sight where Ranjeel would never suspect Saralegui to be holding the Demon King hostage right under his nose. And since both of these roads lead to Big Shimaron, I think Saralegui would much rather take his chances on bandits then armed soldiers so our best chances of finding Shibuya are in the forest."

"Are you sure?" Wolfram asked skeptically. "You already thought Yuri was here for sure but that turned out to be wrong so what makes you think this time is any different?"

"Because," Murata explained, "This time we've seen Saralegui's true colors and if it's a choice between him risking exposing Yuri to his friends in other countries who are sure to try and rescue him or his enemy in Big Shimaron who will try to destroy them and force the Demon King to appear again to defend himself...he'll choose the latter. After all, he doesn't want to lose his hold on Shibuya now and if he sees us and regains his confidence then Shibuya is sure to fight back and free himself from Saralegui's control. But so long as Saralegui has Shibuya isolated in a dangerous situation, I'm afraid Yuri has no choice but to rely on him for protection. So it's up to us to get Shibuya out of there before they both end up on the cutting block if Ranjeel catches them again. Because somehow I doubt even Ranjeel will fall for the same trick a second time of the Demon King showing up in Small Shimaron territory again. Even he's not THAT thick..."

For a bandit leader's tent outside of their main base, it was surprisingly well kept. It was a well-made canvas tent with several fur pelts covering the grass beneath there was a full-size bed in the center also decorated with furs. On one side was a chest and a small wooden table littered with various maps, trinkets, and even a tray of food fit for a king; and on the other side there was a weapon rack and yet another chest only this one was filled to bursting with all sorts of smaller weapons and torture devices that looked anything but pleasant. Rose probably put them in full view on purpose to remind her men what she could do to anyone who got any funny ideas or thought they could overpower her just because she was a woman.

Even so, why she was bringing him there instead of somewhere a bit more secluded to torture him, gave Sara a very bad feeling about this. If there was one thing this woman was known for, it was both seducing and torturing her victims. They were always men too since she had a soft spot for the ladies having been forced into a lifestyle of training prostitutes after her family was disgraced and they lost their titles and lands. After what Belar did it was no wonder why she hated men, and even more so after her own father tried to sell her and her sister's as slaves to weasel his way back into nobility...

That's how Madam Rosella became an outlaw. She poisoned him and escaped with her sister's into another country. One of them managed to find a husband and lived quite happily working with him in their bakery, but the other sister decided to take over for Rose after she decided it was time to take things to the next level and become a female bandit who stole from the foolish men she encountered every chance she got just as her father had stolen everything from them while also controlling the men around her like well-bred bloodhounds. It seemed only fitting after her father groomed them to become brides one day only to throw them to the wolves to save himself from a life of poverty.

Sara was startled out of his musings when Rose suddenly yanked on the chain around his neck and he stumbled, nearly falling face first into the fur pelts at their feet. He managed to keep himself upright but despite himself, he glared up at her which only made her smile wider. "Good, you still have some fight in you after all. This wouldn't be any fun if you were really as weak and timid as you were acting in front of my boys."

"What are you planning to do with me?" Sara asked boldly, straightening up since he was tired of this facade too.

Sliding the chain through her hands as if lovingly caressing the smooth scales of a snake, Rose replied, "That depends. I make it a point not to hurt the pretty ones, there are so few of them in this ugly world you see. But in my experience there are two things that make even grown men beg on their knees-" pulling on more of the chain as she closed the distance between them, she explained, "-one is an end to their pitiful existence just to stop the pain, and the other, well, you're a smart boy so I'm sure there's no need to explain to you why I brought you here instead of some dark dirty cave to make you scream for mercy."

"So you mean to seduce me to get what you want?" Sara asked, his eyes narrowed.

Chuckling, Rose shook her head and after hooking her index finger and forefinger under the collar of the chain on his neck she pulled him closer and replied sensually, "No my dear, because that would imply you have any choice in the matter..."